1. Field of the Invention
This device is a portable training apparatus for training football kickers and for the determination of the evaluation of the flight trajectory of a kicked football at any distance, the device having a portable wheeled base, rigid uprights and a movable trajectory indicator which may be adjusted and set for optimum trajectory angle.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States Patents are disclosed and incorporated within this provisional patent application. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,843 to Russell, a football and soccer goal device and a kicking pad is disclosed, the goal made of pipe and netting and the pad made of a kicking tee within a holding rod for independent use without another person required to hold the ball. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,796 to Silvi, another convertible sports goal is disclosed. A portable, asymmetrically displaced, self-centering ball catching and return apparatus and method is disclosed, incorporating a loosely hung net with a target for kicking a ball to the target on the net, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,802 to Saltus. A miniature football goalpost with a loose net attached on the bottom ballast of the goalpost, utilizing a light-weight football is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,661 to Chavez. Another football kicking net, very similar to the Saltus patent, with the exception of the incorporation of a loose kicking pocket within the net, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,846 to Forrest. While these patents disclose kick training devices and toys, they do not disclose the elements of the present invention, including the adjustability of the device for use at any distance, having adjustment for the optimum vertical trajectory, and it does not incorporate the portability and storage elements of the current invention.
The primary objective of the invention is to provide a portable kicking training device which a person wanting to develop a consistently accurate kicking trajectory may use, without assistance, to improve their kicking skills. The device incorporates a storage base having wheels, a pair of removable uprights for compact storage within the base, a mounting means for the uprights, a moveable horizontal trajectory indicator attached to the two uprights, vertically slidable up and down the uprights depending on the distance the user chooses to practice, and a plurality of vertically aligned contact indicators hanging from the horizontal trajectory indicator. The device is wholly contained within the storage base when disassembled.